Behind a Death God's Fashion Taste
by QuietReaderWriter
Summary: Ever wondered how Anubis went from wearing just a kilt and sandals for thousands of years before finding out about modern mortal clothing in the form of leather jackets, dark jeans, t-shirts, chains, and combat boots? Click here to find out...


**Hello all! My new and latest story—a oneshot—has solely to do with Anubis (though there's a bit of a pleasant surprise at the end) and his transition from wearing ancient Egyptian clothes to adorning his modernized gothic look. I've had this idea for a few years now and have finally finished writing it! I hope you enjoy.**

 **Extra note: The places (street names particularly) mentioned here exist in real life, but I've never been to them (although I plan to eventually), so I'm _really_ sorry if I inaccurately depicted any of them!**

* * *

 _"Anubis was depicted in black,_ _a_ _color that symbolized both rebirth and the discoloration of the corpse after embalming."_ (Wikipedia article)

This is why the color black is one Anubis is very fond of; it has a relation with his profession in the Land of the Dead, something that comes to naturally to him, something that he is good at and actually enjoys. It's his favorite color, to say the least.

Despite all those Ancient Egyptian drawings of him—where his jackal head was depicted in black (and so it really was)—his actual clothes never reflected on his favorite color. A traditional Ancient Egyptian lightly-colored kilt complimented with golden jewelry—that was all it was. What Ancient Egyptian males mostly wore. What most today would call a _man-skirt._ Nothing extraordinary.

It didn't bother Anubis all that much, to be honest. It was the norm, it _fit_ in—well, during the great and mighty times of Ancient Egypt, that is. Today, in the modern world, it's just _way_ outdated. The kilt and sandals are _so_ three millennia ago, man.

Not that it mattered anyway, Anubis rarely went up to the mortal world, so the concept of fashion was, in his humble opinion, human-exclusive.

Needless to say, around the year when the twenty-first century began in the mortal world, something that would forever change his tastes occurred. Lord Osiris had granted his faithful servant a day off to visit the human world, going so far as to grant him an American twenty dollar bill, saying, "You are such a loyal helper, my best one in fact, that I must admit I prefer your presence over my own son's, Horus, oftentimes. But I believe I have told you that many times before, without having ever given you anything in return. Now, however, I deem it fit to reward you and I am sending you off as you please. Here, Anubis, take this human money, and purchase whichever mortal thing your heart desires."

Running a hand through his dark hair, Anubis hesitated a little, but accepted the money. Though he wasn't the most affectionate god around, he dearly loved Osiris, and perceived him as a fatherly figure. He got a heart-warming feeling every time Osiris expressed a preference for him rather than his loud, war-loving, meant-to-be-a-ruler son.

He also almost always visited New Orleans whenever his boss gave him permission, as it was his favorite human place given its creativity in funerary ceremonies.

And so he opened a portal to a graveyard in the city. Bear in mind that during this time Anubis had not yet adorned his signature gothic look, and so he appeared in the cemetery as a jackal, although invisible to the mortals. And, as if New Orleans knew that a god of funerals would come and visit for the day, a group of people were assembled outside of the cemetery carrying a coffin.

Anubis watched.

Melancholy piano music played while the men carried the coffin, all dressed in gray suits, and Anubis instantly knew this was his favorite funeral type—the one that was universally known as the _jazz funeral._ Sad music is played on the way to the graveyard, and happier music is played on the way back. Anubis admired the creativity of mortals and was always in awe whenever he observed this great event take place. Gods like him could never be so imaginative, because they were, after all, gods.

Anubis would have watched the whole event, but an impulse inside him urged to leave the cemetery, and wander through the city...Always, when he went up to the mortal world, he would only visit a random graveyard in Orleans, and in other cases, a funeral home. But this time, he wanted _more._ And of course, Osiris had given him mortal money, so Anubis felt required to explore elsewhere.

The problem was, he could only appear in places of death within the mortal world. He looked beyond the cemetery, and realized that it was the French Quarter neighborhood of Orleans. The god tried to recall if any one ever died within the French Quarter. To his gratification, he remembered the New Orleans fires of 1788 and 1794, in which people certainly had died. Therefore, he could appear there without trouble.

And so, our god of death walked out the gates of the cemetery, still in his jackal-form, and invisible, so that the mortals would not see him and cause a stir.

He soon found himself in Bourbon Street. Growling, he instantly disliked it; it was the heart of the French Quarter, noisy and raucous. Excessive liveliness and exceedingly loud people, were what drew him away south, where there was less noise. Passing Royal and Chartres streets, he did not linger by either one of them, since they were still too close to Bourbon, where the commotion from that street could still be heard.

At the very south of the French Quarter, however, was a street called Decatur. It was the last one.

It wasn't hard to see that Decatur Street had a calm atmosphere to it. People were walking around and about, chatting quietly, or had just stepped out of a store, finished from shopping. The noise from Bourbon could still be heard to a degree, but the tranquility of Decatur weighed out the chaos of Bourbon.

Anubis decided to explore it.

Several stores, restaurants, and the occasional bar lined the pathways. The mortals couldn't see him of course, yet he avoided bumping into any of them, especially some drunken ones who were abruptly coming out of the bars.

And Anubis didn't know this, but what he was practically doing was window shopping...

He remembered the money he was given, which was currently held in place between his jackal jaws. Osiris was definitely expecting him to get something; and he started looking more deeply into the shops for anything that caught his godly eye.

His only problem was, that if he turned himself uninvisible, and into his human form, he'd be wearing his kilt, jewelry, and sandals.

Something that these mortals would find strange.

Well, he could only hope for the best. There was nothing else he was able to do. Perhaps the mortals wouldn't be so trivial and could see past it.

The god proceeded to morph back into his natural human form—pale, with chocolate brown eyes and dark messy hair—not to mention, his ancient Egyptian garbs on full display. Soon making himself visible, thankfully not one person noticed that some random guy just appeared out of thin air.

As he flexed and stretched out his muscles, though, a few people glanced at him—frowning, giggling, chuckling, or turning away.

He continued stretching until he felt his body was well-adjusted again, before turning around and spotting what would change his life and his taste forever.

A little store, that is. Anubis didn't know what _exactly_ it was about it, but it attracted him. Maybe it was the flashy light decorations, but that didn't make any sense whatsoever for a god of death who didn't much enjoy brightness. No, it was what was inside, what was displayed.

Most of the displays were women's black dresses and shoes, millinery, and other feminine accessories. But one display was definitely male clothing - and it was so _perfect,_ Anubis thought it was possible for it to be even _fitting._

He stepped inside, a small bell ringing as he pushed open the dark green door, which momentarily surprised him. The clerk at the counter gave Anubis a strange look, but did not say anything. Anubis saw this, nodded to him, and didn't say anything either.

He certainly did not notice the many pairs of female eyes that were beginning to admire him, as well as some male ones. The females stared in awe and delight, enchanted at how a handsome young man could enter a store essentially half-naked. Some men thought the same, while others sneered and scorned.

In fact, Anubis heard this from a man nearby:

"Looks like the guy is trying hard to bring Ancient Egypt back or something. If he is, it's not going to work at a store like this."

Insulted, Anubis' first instinct was to summon linen and magically wrap it around the man's neck to suffocate him with it. Or perhaps handing him the Feather of Truth and forcing him to say a lie. One of the chief factors in sparking the wrath of a god is human disrespect and disobedience. However, Anubis reminded himself that he hadn't had any real contact with mortals for thousands of years, and that _these_ mortals had no idea who he was or _what_ he was, and kept his distance.

Strolling calmly about the store, many items caught his eye, including the decorations, which consisted of false, but nonetheless deathly-looking skulls adorning the walls, that themselves flashed with red, orange, green, and golden lights. Jewelry was kept within glass cases, and feathered items such as hats seemed to be everywhere. Leather objects could also be found with relative ease, and then Anubis recalled why he had stepped into the shop in the first place.

He approached the window where the outfit that fascinated him was on display. His eyes once again were captivated by it, as well as his mind. The outfit spoke to him, as if it had already belonged to him, as if it _defined_ him, which it most probably would have done if he decided to wear it. A fine, coal-black leather jacket over a gray tee with a few cursive words sewn onto it, in addition to dark, ripped denim trousers that had spiral chains attached to it at the top. There could not possibly be a better suited outfit for him in the world. It seemed as if it were designed exactly for a young god of death to adorn it. Goodness! How come he never visited the French Quarter before, so as to run into this little gem of a store? To think, it was only right now that he had just met with this death god-defining outfit!

"Hon," a feminine voice startled Anubis out of his trance, causing him to flip around—his tousled hair flipping, too. A young woman, with shoulder-length raven hair, and a nose ring, gave him a slightly amused smile. Her gray eyes challenged him in a way that suggested she thought he needed some assistance. "May I help you? You look a bit...lost." She eyed his kilt, suppressing a chuckle. "I work here."

Anubis gave her a look of doubt. He had thought he was decent at avoiding the mortals, but he should have expected something of this kind to happen. He rarely talked to them—and had not had a continuous, stable conversation with a living mortal since the days of Ancient Egypt, when he would communicate with his priests, priestesses, and other worshippers. "I...ah..." he finally began to muster, breaking eye contact with the girl. "Those—those garments over there—" he pointed to the outfit. "May I get a closer look at them?"

The young woman saw where he was pointing at. "Oh, that outfit?" She laughed, probably at his use of the term _garments._ Nevertheless, she was willing to help this strange young man, and liked his taste in picking out good clothes, in spite of what he was currently wearing. "Sure. But I'm not allowed to get it off the mannequin. That's no problem, though! I can go pick out the different parts of that outfit for you; you'll, ah, just need to tell me your size on everything, so that I can get it for you."

Anubis tilted his head in confusion, and the woman flushed. "Size?" He asked. "As in, the measurements for the clothes?"

"Yes," she replied, nodding. "Small, medium, large, extra large, or the numerical measurements." She raised her eyebrows. What an odd customer! How could he not know these simple things? "Do you... _know_ your sizes, hon?"

Unused to being spoken to by mortals in this way—as if he lacked knowledge on a subject—Anubis grimaced. It was usually the other way around, with him in the superior position, helping the unwise, unknowing mortal. But alas, he genuinely knew nothing that related to this, and so he replied: "I'm afraid I don't."

The woman's lips pursed, but she was not astounded. In fact, she had been expecting an answer in the negative. However, determined on getting him what he wanted, she gave the outfit another look and took his hand, leading him somewhere. She had some work to do.

* * *

"Are...you certain, ma'am? That these are the correct fit?"

"Absolutely, hon." answered the young woman with an assuring smile, after helping Anubis find out his sizes and getting the rightly-suited parts of the outfit for him. "You need to go try that on now." She gestured toward the changing rooms. "Like, _now."_

A feeling of uncertainty overcame Anubis, but his eagerness to wear these _garments_ surpassed even that.

And so he tried them on.

* * *

"Oh my..."

"Did he just...?"

"Is that the guy from before? Like, what happened!"

A woman nearly tripped over and fainted.

These mortals are the oddest creatures ever, mused Anubis, after stepping out of the changing room and hearing all those comments. But then, I haven't been around them for quite some time until now...and that was when he looked in the mirror.

The reflection. He could hardly believe it was himself! And yet, the look radiated exactly what Anubis, the god of death, was all about. His gloominess, reclusiveness, ominousness, and that air of intimidation he carried where ever he went, was conveyed in this single outfit. And he loved it.

"I'll be taking it," Anubis flipped around to face the kind young lady who had helped him. "I like it, ma'am."

The woman beamed, happy to get the job done well. However, she grimaced when realizing something. "Hon, I do assume...you have cash on you, right? Or a credit card. Otherwise, you can't take the outfit..."

The god of funerals furrowed his eyebrows. "Cash? A credit card? What do you mean?"

The woman groaned. "Come on, hon! You were doing so well but I can't let you leave with the outfit if you can't pay for it!" She seemed about ready to have a heart attack.

Anubis' eyebrows were now raised. "Ah, _no_ , mortal, I _am_ able to pay for it, if that's what you mean. I do indeed have the money, ma'am."

"...You do?" She seemed relieved. "Oh, that's great, honey." She lead him to the counter to make the purchase. "You had me real worried there."

* * *

He made the purchase. The outfit was his.

Before leaving, though, the woman stopped him.

"I didn't get your name, sweetie."

"My name? Of what use will that be to you?" Anubis tilted his head.

"In case you come here again, hon, then we'll be familiar..."

Anubis nodded, and revealed his name.

"' _Anubis_ '? I've never heard of that one before, but you're special, aren't you?"

* * *

"So that's how you went from...ancient Egyptian garb...to _these_ lovely clothes?" Sadie Kane asked Anubis, as he finished narrating his tale.

"Yes, Sadie, it very much was the way it all went about." Anubis replied. "Why were you so interested in hearing my story about it, anyway?"

A flush spread across her face, before she let out a bit of a chuckle. "Well, personally, I think you look good in _anything,_ death god, but it was always of interest to me how _precisely_ you gotto wearing these sort of modern clothes. Especially, you know, because they fit you so flawlessly."

The funeral god tried to hide his own flush himself, but nonetheless a teasing grin managed to crawl and spread about his expression, before he said: "You never miss an opportunity to remind me of my attractiveness, do you, Sadie? I admit, I will always feel good about that."

Sadie both scoffed and reddened, slapping his arm lightly. "Do _not_ start, Anubis," she warned, but playfully, as though she were secretly wishing for him to start.

The two began to argue in the way that is expected of lovers, with the source of their argument being the topic of how, exactly, Anubis' fashion tastes came to be.


End file.
